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MONACO: Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis insisted on Thursday he was unfazed by the lateness of the world championships in Tokyo, the Sept 13-21 event bringing the curtain down on a gruelling season. The championships are generally held in August, with the exception of the 2019 edition in Doha, where it was pushed back to the last week of September in a bid to beat the suffocating heat in the Gulf state. The 2027 world champs in Beijing will also be held in September. But the unflappable double Olympic champion, speaking in Monaco ahead of Friday’s Diamond League meet, the 10th of…

LONDON: An inspired Amanda Anisimova tore up the script and soared into her maiden Wimbledon final by outclassing world number one Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 with a display of fierce determination and fearless shot-making on Thursday. Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek will also play in her first Wimbledon final as she crushed former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-0 in the other last-four clash. Anisimova’s victory extended her win-loss record over her equally big-hitting rival to 6-3 and kept alive American hopes of a third women’s Grand Slam champion this year after Madison Keys won the Australian Open…

CNN  —  The Trump administration’s intensifying campaign against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hit a boiling point Thursday. Just two weeks after President Donald Trump sent a handwritten letter to Powell demanding lower interest rates, Russell Vought, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), accused Powell of breaking the law by failing to comply with government oversight regulations and lying to Congress about details of an approximately $2.5 billion planned renovation of the Fed’s headquarters. “The President is extremely troubled by your management of the Federal Reserve System,” Vought wrote in a letter he posted to social…

Jane Birkin’s Original Birkin on sale at Sotheby’s ParisCourtesy of Sotheby’s Few items are as iconic as the Hermès Birkin handbag, which has become the ultimate symbol of luxury and exclusivity. It has been immortalized in popular culture across various disciplines—films, music, literature—and is loved by celebrities who proudly carry it on their arms for us all to admire. There is even a coveted dupe, the Wirkin, sold at Walmart, which has sparked much debate. Until today, the most expensive handbag ever sold at auction was a White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Returnee Kelly 28, which fetched $513,040 in 2021—but…

Halfpoint Images | Moment | Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump’s signature on his so-called “big beautiful bill” was a death blow for tax credits that lowered the cost of electric vehicles.Those tax credits — worth up to $7,500 and $4,000 for purchases of new and used EVs, respectively — won’t be available after Sept. 30. Another tax break that’s ending lets dealers pass along savings on EV leases.The credits were supposed to last for another seven years, through 2032.Analysts think the abrupt end to these federal subsidies will trigger a rush by consumers to buy or lease an EV in coming…

Jayshree PatelCourtesy of New York Life Name: Jayshree Patel Firm: New York Life Location: Lincolnwood, IL Total Value of Policies: $6.4 billion Background: Jayshree Patel grew up in a small village in India with her widowed mother and four sisters, facing early hardships after her father passed away. She moved to the U.S. in 1993 after college and joined New York Life in 1997, building her career initially around life insurance—the foundation of financial planning. Over the years, her practice expanded to serve multiple generations, adding retirement planning, estate strategies, and long-term care. Today, she runs a $6 billion assets…

Chelsea MaedaCourtesy of Winged Keel Group Name: Chelsea Maeda Firm: Winged Keel Group Location: New York, NY Total Value of Policies: $105 Billion Background: Chelsea Maeda was born and raised in Hawaii, the youngest of three children. After attending Columbia University, where she studied statistics and music, she interned at Winged Keel and joined the firm full-time in 2008. “I never expected to end up on the sales side,” she says. “But I saw the impact we were having and wanted to stay.” She rotated through analytics and design roles before moving into a client-facing position in 2012. In 2020,…

Joshua WaiteCourtesy of Northwestern Mutual Name: Joshua Waite Firm: Waite Financial Group / Northwestern Mutual Location: Peoria, IL Total Value of Policies: $1.1 billion Background: Joshua Waite grew up in a small farming town outside Peoria, Illinois—just a mile from the family farm where his grandfather, one of his childhood heroes, helped shape his values of hard work, humility, and integrity. After earning a finance degree from nearby Bradley University, he joined Northwestern Mutual in 2003, where his father had long been a policyholder. Although he describes himself as a natural introvert, Waite found success in sales by asking thoughtful…

Lorrie BaldeviaCourtesy of AssuredPartners Name: Lorrie Baldevia Firm: AssuredPartners Location: Seattle, WA Total Value of Policies: $6.3 billion Background: Lorrie Baldevia describes her connection to insurance as deeply personal. The eldest of five children, she lost her father in a tragic construction accident at age 12 in Guam. Her mother raised the family on her own and was able to do so thanks to a life insurance policy—an experience that would ultimately shape her career. “It gave us a kind of financial security we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” she says. Baldevia moved to the United States at 17 on a…

CNN  —  Layoffs may not be mounting, but it’s getting harder to find a job in a labor market where hiring is “anemic” as tariff-driven economic uncertainty has put a chill on some employers. New data released Thursday showed that initial claims for unemployment benefits — considered a proxy for layoffs — fell last week. However, the number of recurring claims made by people who already have filed for unemployment rose to their highest level since November 2021. There were an estimated 227,000 first-time applications for unemployment insurance made during the week that ended on July 5. That’s down 5,000…